DID is pretty hard to understand. The movies about it give some information and dramatize it, but they end up making it something that may not help people.

One of the reasons it is hard to understand is that it comes about naturally when little children get abused. They have never been told (of course) how to become DID, so they figure it out for themselves. Therefore every case is different.

The CIA has trained people in DID. Then they apparently backed off from that position and in the 1990's and they were at least partly responsible for the movement to deny the existence of DID. In my geographic area, many of the therapists don't believe there is such a thing as DID. They try to come up with some other explanation. But those of us who have had it or known somebody who has it know that it is a reality. One of the leading experts as far as I can tell is a psychiatrist named Colin A. Ross who has written a bunch of books on the subject. I think (I don't know this for sure) that he was at first involved with the CIA in creating DID in people. Then he turned around and wanted to bring healing to those who have DID because they were mistreated by people.

Reading about DID is a good thing to do. I just finished a book written by a guy who had DID and experienced successful treatment. Now he is a T. I recommend this book very highly. First Person Plural, My Life As a Multiple. The book is not expensive. There are used copies in good condition. There are a bunch of them selling for 1 penny plus $4 postage from Amazon.com. He includes descriptions of what it's like to shift personalities. When he discovered he had DID he was married and had a little boy. He talks about how they reacted to his DID. They tried to hide it from the little boy, who figured it out for himself. He asked his mother: "Does Dad have DID?" How would you think a little boy would deal with it when his father changed his personality? The author is honest about the difficulties and yet he wants to help others with an honest presentation.

I'm not going to say Puffer is wrong about Dr. Ross, but I will say that there are those who accept DID as a diagnosis who don't believe Dr. Ross is a credible source. In fact, there are many who would qualify his techniques as downright dangerous. I'm not trying to pick a fight, I just don't want people to go reading his book thinking that his views are the common consensus.

Edited by Jacob S (04/14/1311:46 PM)

_________________________
I come here now, and I see lots of anger.I don't blame anyone for that. It is perfectly understandable.But it is not healthy for me.So I'm going somewhere else.

One of the reasons it is hard to understand is that it comes about naturally when little children get abused. They have never been told (of course) how to become DID, so they figure it out for themselves. Therefore every case is different.

Brilliantly put. So true.

_________________________
I come here now, and I see lots of anger.I don't blame anyone for that. It is perfectly understandable.But it is not healthy for me.So I'm going somewhere else.

.... there are those who accept DID as a diagnosis who don't believe Dr. Ross is a credible source.

I'd really like to hear your response. I won't be offended. If you don't want to say it publically, then PM me.

Puffer

I'm not sure what you are asking and I'm really not an expert on it. I just know that there are people who feel Dr. Ross manufactures memories ( http://www.examiner.com/article/real-lif...ged-malpractice ). Some of those people discount DID entirely because of that, but not everyone does (or at least I figured that was true, maybe I am wrong about that last part). But I'm not trying to pass judgment on him one way or another, just pointing out that there are those with hesitations. If I am overestimating the number of people who have hesitations but who believe in DID regardless, then that is just my own limited knowledge of the topic. I know what I've read makes me question his approach, but not the fact that I have DID. But maybe I am the only one who takes that view.

_________________________
I come here now, and I see lots of anger.I don't blame anyone for that. It is perfectly understandable.But it is not healthy for me.So I'm going somewhere else.

Here are two other very interesting articles on Dissociative Idetity "Disorder" that might be enlightening as to the "controversy" as to whether or not the condition is real or fake.

Aside from the "controversy" some will claim the disorder/condition is society created here in America. I beg to differ with that assessment. D.I.D. is created in isolation, in the bedroom or place of severe trauma, by the child due to adults and or perpetrators not acknowledging and adhering to societies healthy BOUNDARIES. i.e. it isn't a decent healthy behavior to forcefully rob a child of all clothing they wear, in order to rape them, and then tie them up and sexually assault them, torture them etc. It isn't appropriate mentally to allow a child to view pornography either. Or see, view or watch violence either. Yet constantly children are bombarded with sexuality of older people all the time, from commercials to movies, to the magazines on a store shelf that they visually view daily.

For those who disbelieve D.I.D. = it does exist; they that conclude otherwise (that it does not exist) are ignorant. For those who profess it is society induced, that is merely a half truth, but just the same, D.I.D. is in fact, at least a minority of persons who do have it = it is a reality for them. To say it isn't a real mental condition, is to minimize it, is to deny it, and it has always been arrogant of psychiatry to do so.

The developing human brain, is still as yet little understood. A child enduring such severe trauma, like that of any species of life, facing their death, will shut down, mentally speaking. Do they die? Were they supposed to die? But somehow, they manage to keep going.

Like a bird caught by a cat, and then freed w/o seemingly suffereing phsyical injury to itself, will sit in a tree, in shock, only to die ten minutes later, even though the bird is not bodily injured. The bird dies because its either mental or spiritual being cannot deal with the trauma.

What does a human child do, when he or she becomes the "prey" of an adult, who is stronger, smarter, more manipulative and aware of the environment, than the child?

The infant, child or very young person will 'freeze up' bodily too, ("flight or fight" response as they call it) they die inside; and so what is expected of the child after the Adult has tried to kill them, torment them, etc. Of course, some children endure, and live forward perfectly fine having went through a traumatic isolated incident of abuse, knowing what happened to them.

Some child(ren) may fracture and develop this condition called D.I.D. due to severe repeated trauma, subsequently experiencing severe repeated dissociative episodes. Then they grow up with the condition. It becomes 'normal' within their own being, to be fragmented.

Yet we have idiotic pseudo-psychiatric "professionals" vs. False Memory Syndrome Advocates etc then as today, claiming that D.I.D. is fake, and hearsay psychiatric-created. No one asks or desires to have D.I.D. or any other ailment in life. Most people with D.I.D. do not seek the label or the stigma either.

Some people "wish they have D.I.D." and those that really do have it, wish they didn't.

Hollywood has had an obsession with the condition. Either we were exotic, schizophrenic, serial killers or demon possessed.Just look at the movies then or now, from Sybil, to Perks of Being a Wallflower, to United States of Tara, to Primal Fear, etc.

As for those that minimize, fake, or diminish D.I.D. perhaps like the Sybil Exposed book etc....well, they ought be ashamed over what they do. But they aren't. Because they have a purpose, a motivation, and an agenda to shove the reality of child sexual abuse into the closet again. Remember, in the mid 1970's child pornography was perfectly legal to make/create, distribute, and collect. All the way up to 1979! How many of those children, now adults, fractured into having D.I.D. is anyone's guess. At least some did develop "multiple personalities" ...

My sibling believes that they were abducted by aliens. I do not think that they were sexually abused (like I was) but then again, I wasn't always around, even if we were in the same household of abuse.They do not substantiate that I was sexually abused, because they weren't physically always in my environment of abuses either, as children that we were, in the same household. Does that mean, the abuse did not happen, or does it mean that they had a different coping mechanism mentally than I did, at the time? Or that they just do no have the same memories that I do? Or does it mean, that I have false memories and he has real ones? I know what I endured. I wasn't abducted by aliens or programmed with false memories.

To claim that the personalities are merely "parts" of one person/human being is also to minimize, and to deny the very real impact of severe trauma(s) to the child.

1 body = one soul = 1 personality is the new rule of thumb because psychiatry is also derived of people that come from the CHURCH, at least in part. And we all know what the Catholic Priests been doing to little boys for generations, now don't we? So they have a purpose and an agenda to minimize the very real impact of victims of abuse, trauma, and torture at the hands of adult perpetrators.

Fight Club is merely that, a movie, a script. A whole lot of salt and little bit of pepper. A whole lot of wishful thinking, and a tiny grain of truth thrown in for good measure. Is it an accurate portrayal of D.I.D.? The answer is yes and no. Every person who has D.I.D. isn't necessarily going to experience their condition the same.

Colin Ross may seem like a quack,(he might even be one!) but there is a grain of truth of what he has studied and written about MPD/DID too. By this, I mean that he isn't completely correct in his assertions and claims, but then again, neither is he completely wrong either.

The person(s) that sue such "professional's" have their own reason(s) for doing so. Right along with their attorney(s) and their advocates in the False Memories Arena too. Who paid for all that litigation and lawsuit(s) by these alleged D.I.D. Clients against Ross and Braun? Of course, there was and is a financial motivation to keep a client in therapy; and there is a motivation to stay in therapy too, for a client to stay, for as long as they do. Again, it is about HEALTHY BOUNDARIES. Or the lack thereof.....

Bravo, George. I think your assertion that mainstream psychiatry is colored by religious thought is very provocative. And I think you summed up my feelings about Ross better than I did. For your last paragraph, I think questioning the motives of people who sue famous people is ... well, lets just say I more hesitant than you in that regard. Lord knows people are always questioning the motivations of CSA victims who sue. But I think you are absolutely right that no one is right all the time, and to be safe we have to be aware of corruption no matter what the direction.

edit: on a different note, one of the articles you linked to mentioned the movie "Primal Fear" starring Ed Norton. I think its quite interesting that Norton has played so many roles that have a DID quality to them. Primal Fear and Fight Club of course, but The Incredible Hulk also has DID elements to it. I wonder if it is just coincidence or if he is drawn to the topic.

Edited by Jacob S (04/15/1302:54 PM)

_________________________
I come here now, and I see lots of anger.I don't blame anyone for that. It is perfectly understandable.But it is not healthy for me.So I'm going somewhere else.

I
agree that my access and use of the MaleSurvivor discussion forums and
chat room is subject to the terms of this Agreement. AND the sole
discretion of MaleSurvivor. I agree that my use of MaleSurvivor
resources are AT-WILL,
and that my posting privileges may be terminated at any time, and for
any reason by MaleSurvivor.